Many computers are equipped to accommodate one or more “add-in” cards (sometimes called “option” cards). An add-in card may be designed to provide any of a wide variety of functions such as network interface capabilities, extra memory capacity, etc. Such cards can be added to a computer by plugging the card into a slot in the computer. The computer may have one or more slots and each slot typically comprises an electrical connector on the computer's motherboard to which an add-in card may be mated. The mechanical and electrical interface between an add-in card and this host computer is typically dictated by an applicable standard. Examples of such standards include the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) standard and the PCI-Express standard. The mechanical and electrical interface specified by one standard typically differs from that of other standards such that a PCI card cannot be mated to a slot designed per the PCI-Express standard, nor can a PCI-Express card be mated to PCI-compatible slot.
A computer manufacturer has to make a decision as to how many slots are to be included in a computer and the standard to which the slots are to be compatible. All of the slots can be compatible with a single standard or one or more slots could be compatible with one standard while one or more other slots could be compatible with a different standard. Purchasers/users of computers are not all in agreement as to the preferred mix of slots and standards leaving the manufacturer to predict a mix that would seem to be most widely desirable mix. Alternatively, the manufacturer might offer different platforms, each with a different mix of slots and standards. One platform might offer only PCI slots while another platform might offer only PCI-Express slots while yet another platform might provide some dedicated PCI slots and other dedicated PCI-Express slots. Providing computers with different motherboard platforms is costly and still may not be desirable to all users because some users still may want a different mix of slots than are provided in any of the various platforms.